Horror Block Dec. 2014 Unboxing

   Time for Horror Daddy to kick off the New Year with a long overdue post!
 
   So let's get right into it with my first Horror Block of 2015!

   I've been subscribing to this monthly box of horror randomness for a few months now. The items have been mostly great, with a few clunkers in there. It's always exciting when you receive a package in the mail, even if you know what's inside. These mystery boxes are even better!

Xmas comes again!

Opening the box makes me feel like a little kid at Xmas! A dark, twisted Xmas. Every. Month.
 

Goodies await.

   Looking at the items piece by piece, we start with this cool little Maggot Eye Skeleton squishy toy. It's not exactly durable enough to be used as a stress ball (like last month's Hannibal heart) but it is insanely satisfying watching the little maggots pop out of his eyes!

Next up we have a bottle of hand sanitizer labeled Zomb Ease. It's just a basic sanitizer with a zombie logo attached to it to make it fall into the horror category. It's still neat though and it smells pretty good.

   I was happily surprised by the Poltergeist image that I found next. It's a mouse pad. A very small, flimsy mouse pad. About 8 inches by 6 inches in size and nowhere near as thick as any mouse pad I've ever owned. It was clearly made to be a give away promo item. It's so thin you could easily rip it in half. My kids would no doubt destroy it if I put it on my desk so I'll just hang it on the wall instead.

   Now on to the good stuff. Funko Pop! makes its return this month with the Universal Monsters line. Each box was filled with a random choice. I was not disappointed in getting good ol Frank! Other figures in the line include Dracula, Wolfman,The Mummy, and The Creature From the Black Lagoon. My Funko collection slowly grows...

   This month they have gone back to featuring Rue Morgue as the magazine of choice. The past couple of months have been Fangoria which was fine with me since I don't have a subscription to Fango. But since I have one for Rue this just puts an extra magazine in my already huge collection of horror mags. Too bad they don't give you an option as to which one you would prefer in the box.

   And finally, the shirt! Which is, without a doubt, the best shirt I've gotten so far from them. Just look at it. The Overlook Hotel! The Shining is one of the best books in Stephen King's bibliography and Kubrick's film is in my all time top 5, despite the fact that King himself despises it. In the past the shirts I have received featured Pennywise, Hannibal, and Jason. But this tops them all. Thank You Horror Block!

   That's it for this month's haul. Overall, not their best box, but still some cool stuff. Next month is set to feature not one , but two shirts! Looking like some American Horror Story shirts based on the teaser. 

Call me Brody

   Do you remember the scene from Jaws when Chief Brody is sitting at the kitchen table with his son? A classic moment when the younger Brody mimics his father's motions. Brody isn't even aware that his son is doing it at first. His mind is preoccupied by the recent events that have plagued the town. The safety (and weight) of the entire community is resting on his shoulders.
   Then he notices his child looking up at him with innocent eyes. Only then does that weight briefly lift and he is able to focus on one good positive thing in his life.
   The scene ends with him saying "Give us a kiss..."
   "Why?"
   "Because I need it."
  Not only is it a touching scene of parenthood but it also shows you just how much the Chief has to lose if he fails in his quest of chasing down the killer great white shark.

   My son and I shared such a  moment as well. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my headphones on, working on a project. The boys were just to my left watching Dora. Out of nowhere , my 4 year old gets right up in my face.
   "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"
   I put my pen down on the table and looked at him while folding my hands together.
   He immediately copied me.
   I put my hands on my face.
   So did he.
   I put my hands on the table...
   You guessed it.

Recreating our own Brody moment.

   So it got me thinking of all I'm fighting for in this world. Of everything I have to lose if I don't confront my own fears on a daily basis and come out on top.
   I struggle everyday to keep a roof over our heads, food in their bellies, and clothes on their back. If I let the shark win then it all comes crumbling down. My son could sense that daddy was stressed out and his smiling face can always make me stop whatever I'm doing and feel blessed to have him.
   Every day I wake up, look in the mirror and tell myself "You will not stop!"
    Letting my fears overcome me is not an option. It's just a shark, it may be strong but I am stronger. I have the love and support of my wife and children keeping me going.

Metal Dad Reviews (Horror): An Introduction

   First off let me start by saying that I am not professional critic in any way, shape, or form. It's very simple. I either like something or I don't.
   Metal Dad Reviews is for those (like me) that want to get caught up on things they may have missed out on.(Or just don't have the time for.) Movies,TV, Music etc. For instance I was browsing Amazon and saw that there were 2 Hellraiser movies I knew nothing about!
   Basically I'll review whatever comes my way that piques my interest. Whether it piques yours I'll let you decide.
   Before my children came along I was something of a film geek.(I still am) I had a wall full of DVDs and VHS. Movie posters and monsters filled the remaining walls of my long abandoned man-cave(s).

Mancave V2.0

Mancave V1.0

V1.0

V1.0

 











   If I ever get to watch a movie from start to finish it's something of a miracle. It usually takes me a week to consume a 90 minute offering. Watching bits and pieces here and there in between reading books by Dr. Seuss, bath time, dinner time, 10 hour work days, and catching up on Grimm and Dr. Who. So I don't have a lot of free time without the kiddos.
  Therein lies the one bonus of working nights. Coming home anywhere between 1 and 3 AM leaves me with a quiet house, my headphones, and my Kindle. Add in a notebook and an unhealthy stash of pens and you have the recipe for all my writing needs.

Amazon Prime and Netflix are all I need. And these headphones, and this notebook, and a chair. And that's all I need. And my dog... Well I don't need my dog.

   It has taken me a week to watch Scream 4 (which  I'll review soon!) So what if it's been out for a while now. Parents (as you know) don't always get to see current releases. Sometimes we're even seasons behind on our favorite shows. (Dexter is done and we're still 2 seasons off.) 
   I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum. Unless you decide that you'd rather just take my word for it. In that case I have no problem giving you the Cliff's Notes version so that you can go back on your merry little way.
  I've also got some videos in the planning stages so Metal Dad is going all out this year!

   Having children, you have to sacrifice a few of the luxuries you once embraced. You never realize how much you miss going to a concert or a movie theater until you realize that it's been months (or years) since you've set foot in those environments. The last concert my wife and I went to was Metallica at Nassau Coliseum in January of 2009. Our firstborn was still a collection of cells at that point.
   The last movie we saw in theaters was Iron Man 3. And honestly I can't remember a thing that happened. And the one time we took our son to the movies to see the last Alvin & the Chipmunks movie, he fell asleep about 10 minutes in....

My first movie experience. To bad I'll be asleep in 10 minutes.

   So sit back, relax, dim the lights or turn them off altogether. The popcorn is in the microwave, the kids are almost ready for bed, and the stack of movies is growing. Mommy and Daddy might be out cold soon too but at least we'll get a few minutes of Hollywood in our daily routines.
 

Sick in bed movies

   Oh back to school season. So many unwelcome germs have found their way into my life via my son's classmates. My wife had a sore throat for a couple of days. His baby brother had a runny nose for a couple of days. And Daddy of course gets a full blown cold bordering on sinus infection/bronchitis. Leave it to dad to "take one for the team".
   So since I'm holed up in quarantine for a couple of days, I have some time to catch up on some movies. There are just some movies I need to watch when I'm sick. Why they make me feel better I can't really say, they just do. Hopefully my children will appreciate them someday. And hopefully they will find their own feel better movies that they can pass along to their own kids.
   This is just what I watched to pass the time and pick up my spirits.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Mom rented it for me one day when I was sick and it's been a staple of  my collection ever since. Klowns arrive in a spaceship shaped like a circus tent and begin turning the townsfolk into large cotton candy cocoons. It's over the top and colorful. If you have a fear of clowns then you probably wouldn't find it as funny as I do.

   Saturday the 14th

     It's a weird little comedy/horror spoof I picked up on years ago.  It's worth seeing Jeffrey Tambor from Arrested Development as a vampire. It's campy,cheesy, and filled with monsters.

Misery

Sick in bed. Sick in the head. This classic has it all. Academy Award winner- Check! Stephen King- Check! Great one liners- Check! "He didn't get out of the cockadoodie car!" There are some film adaptations that get it right. Stephen King probably has more films based on his work than any other writer living today! If you don't know the tale of Paul Sheldon meeting his "Number One Fan" then what are you waiting for?

The Goonies

At some point my boys snuck their way into my room so there are a couple of movies I didn't get to finish. So I switched over to lighter stuff. Marketed towards 80's kids, the first 20 minutes have fake suicide, a couple of "shits", a poor house cleaner tricked into thinking she works in some drug/sex slave den, and a broken penis! 80's movies rule!

Wreck It Ralph

 More 80's goodness. Bringing generations together. I only wish there were more of the 80's video game characters in it.  It's a cute little tale about a video game villain who has an identity crisis. He wants to be the hero for once in his life. Who amongst us deosn't?

Hotel Transylvania

A while back McDonald's had Happy Meal toys from the movie. I, of course, was excited to get new monster toys. I was even more thrilled to see that my the mummy is still one of my son's favorite toys. Poor Dracula's little girl is growing up and he is still trying to shelter her from the world when the world fins it's way into their secluded castle/hotel. It's one of my favorite modern family films and serves as a great gateway to introducing my boys to the classic monsters.

Every day is Halloween

   Halloween.
   I'll pause for a sec while John Carpenter's theme hits your brain.
   It's my absolute favorite holiday of the year (and  second favorite movie behind Dawn of the Dead). I'm sure I mentioned this once or twice (or a million) times in my life. So it should come as no surprise to anyone when they walk in my house and
see Michael Myers perched on top of my computer (and in the garage). And you would probably think that my children are scared of the Boogeyman, but such is not the case.
   My children have been around horror movies and imagery since day 1 of their lives, so by now the decor is just part of the norm for them.  As a matter of fact a few of their favorite toys at the moment are my stuffed Universal Monsters and the Happy Meal toys from Hotel Transylvania. I can't wait for my son's first show and tell!
   Granted  you won't find us nestled up on the couch watching The Shining (I'm not that dad). But you won't see them shy away from grabbing The Evil Dead Blu ray off the shelf with it's iconic skull artwork  (not that I let them watch that either). Come on give me some credit as a parent!
   It makes me think back to when I was a kid and all the twisted VHS covers that seeped their way into my fragile, unwarped mind.  There were these places called video stores. Remember them? I could ride my bike there and spend an hour perusing all the different cover art and finally settle on the one that looked the coolest. Chopping Mall, Toxic Avenger, City of the Living Dead, Sleepaway Camp...and one of my all time favorite Xmas classics- Silent Night, Deadly Night.
The list goes on and on, 1986 was a very good year to be a horror fan. (more on that in a future post).

 At first they wouldn't rent the R rated goodies to my preteen self. But after a while of being a regular pain in the ass, the clerk behind the counter finally gave in. Yet another lesson I can teach to my children... persistence pays off!
   I had become such a regular fixture at the video store that every week when the new releases came out they would hold on to the horror movies  and let me pick from the fresh batch.
   Every time I walked through the horror section I could feel the eyes on the boxes sizing me up, saying to themselves "pick me and I promise you won't sleep for a week". These videos generated their own aura. The whole wall of battered covers felt alive. Maybe I'm just crazy (we all know I am anyway) but there is no other way to put it into perspective unless you grew up in that time period.
   There were plenty of kids that would run from the horror section crying from what they had just seen. Or I would just watch as they changed their course just to go around it without being subjected to the sights they so clearly couldn't handle.
   The only monsters those kids were ever accustomed to were of the Sesame Street variety. While they were counting along with The Count (Ah-Ah-Ah) I was  watching The Lost Boys rip open partygoers on the beach! (Ahhh-Ahhh-AHHHH!!!)
   My mother was never one to ignore my growing fascination. On one occasion that I was home sick from school she brought me home movies to watch as I curled up under a blanket. I clearly remember one of those movies being Killer Klowns From Outer Space! (She also bought me my first copy of The Toxic Avenger for Xmas one year!) I sat there unaware of what to expect and by the end of the movie I crawled to the VCR to rewind and watch it again.

   Oh video stores...My boys will probably never know the beauty they missed out on. Now with the advent of digital media and on demand all you have to do is press a button on the remote and up pops your choice.
   Not quite the same now is it?
 

 

Back in the saddle again

   It has been well over a year since I've even looked at this blog. Now is as good a time as any to start it up once again before my brain starts to atrophy. I started this hoping to connect with other parents out there. Maybe share some stories about being a father with a taste for the finer things in life. Horror movies, tattoos, heavy metal, etc...
   But now I know that this is all just a step closer to a different path in my life.
   I've always been a writer. It started way back in grade school with bad poetry I was convinced would be the next hit song. In high school the poetry continued, including a classic that would horrify my poor English teacher. But I also added short stories to the mix. Really bad short stories.(We all have to cut our teeth somewhere). After high school I spent a period of time collaborating on songs in short lived bands and started to throw journals into my routine.
   While I've held many jobs in my day, none of them have truly been what I would consider my calling in life. Writing has always been a constant no matter what I was doing to pay the bills.
   Now, so many years later, I have a bin filled with scraps of paper, notebooks, napkins, and whatever else was close at hand when inspiration struck. They're all just pieces of a puzzle that hasn't fully developed its picture.
   And here's where it gets tricky...
   Before I had children I could be that starving artist that wore the same clothes everyday, ate dollar menu items, and just got lost in whatever world I could fashion for myself. But now I have two powerful and loving forces in the world that rely on me to guide them and keep them safe. Daddy can't just close up shop and retreat in his head for too long or else they'll start to wonder where I went. My responsibilities as a father far outweigh my contributions to the creative world.
   I always want to tell my children that they can be whatever they want to be in this world. To chase their dreams and never give up. Let them know it's OK to fail as long as you learn from it, pick up the pieces and try again. And most importantly, never let someone's negativity tear down what you've worked so hard to achieve. There will always be someone looking to piss on your parade, so always carry your umbrella !
   So while that all sounds well and good. What type of example would I set if I wasn't chasing my own dreams?
   It's time to dust off those old notebooks, start another new one, and gather those pieces. Put them all together and make my dreams a reality.
   You don't have to sacrifice everything about yourself to be a good parent. As a matter of fact you have to hold on to the best parts and instill them into your children.
   Always be yourself no matter what.
   Your kids will thank you for it.
 

Time to head out

   This is the time I dread the most as a father. Leaving for work...
   It's bad enough that my days off go by so quickly, but it's worse when I have to separate myself from my family. I work so hard to support them but at the same time I sacrifice most of my time away from the people I love the most. 
   My 3 year old has a doctor's appointment this morning but I couldn't go with him because I have to go to work. Right now I can't get the image of him out of my head. Holding on to his little red fire engine lunch box with a big smile on his face saying "Bye-bye daddy". It will be stuck with me all day.
   Is it so wrong to want to be at home with my kids all the time? Just how long am I going to be able to endure this torture? If I keep going like this I  am going to be at that point when my kids are grown and I've missed out on most of their childhood. 
   There are so many of us out there in similar situations. We work, work, work not because we want to. But because we have to. I easily spend more than 12 hours of my day away from home when you factor in travel. I spend a solid 90 minutes in my car each day plus a 10+ hour shift. 
   The human mind can only handle so much stress before it turns to a quivering pile of jelly. And then what use will I be if I suffer a mental breakdown?
   Luckily my children are too young to understand but what happens when they are older? 
   "Daddy are you coming to my soccer game?" 
   "Sorry baby, Daddy has to work."
   I can picture the scenario all to easily in my mind. Hopefully by that time I'll be out of this business and will have more time to help my children grow before they start to hate me...